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From ‘The Jugger’ to Captain Jackson: Six questions with Evan ‘Doc’ Shaner

Thirty-six questions. Six answers. One random number generator. Welcome to Robot Roulette, where creators roll the virtual dice and answer our questions about their lives, careers, interests and more.

Joining us today is Evan “Doc” Shaner, who you might know from IDW’s Ghostbusters, Jim Henson’s The Storyteller, the excellent Buddy Cops, Eerie Comics, Green Hornet: Year One Special and Blood Brothers, which arrives from Dark Horse on July 17.

Now let’s get to it …

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2. What was the last good book (not comics) that you read?

I don’t get a whole lot of time for non-comics reading, or at least not as much as I’d like, so I finish maybe 3 a year. And for the last few years I’ve just been switching back and forth between westerns and Westlake’s Parker novels. The last one I read was The Jugger, which I enjoyed very much. I always seem to take my sweet time when I start out reading one of his books and then about halfway through he turns up the heat and then I can’t put it down until I’ve finished it.

13. Where did you grow up? Tell us something about where you grew up that we may not know.

I grew up in Jackson, Michigan. Inside the state it seems to be known for having the Michigan State Prison just outside town, or at least that’s what everybody always brings up when I mention it’s where I’m from. There’s a guy in town who dresses up in his own superhero costume and calls himself Captain Jackson. He shows up at a lot of public events and parades and the like. My kid brother interviewed him once for a class project and the guy went on a tear about how he hates Batman. He’s a character for sure.

17. Name one of your pet peeves. Why is it a pet peeve?

When a movie or song skips or hiccups repeatedly. I don’t know if I can explain it. I can get over it if it’s just once, but when it happens again and again it drives me crazy. Especially if it’s something I paid for, I can just feel my blood pressure going. Haha, boy it seems dumb now that I’ve written it down.

24. What did you dress up as the last time you dressed in a costume (whether that’s Halloween, a convention or wherever)?

I think it was Halloween 2011. My daughter was a couple months old at the time and she was dressed like a cupcake so my wife and I were dressed as bakers. We would’ve done something last year but my daughter wasn’t feeling well the day of Halloween. Poor kid had an Elmo costume ready and everything. I hadn’t dressed up for Halloween
for a long time before our daughter came along but I can see the fun in it again from a parent’s perspective. I couldn’t do it at a convention but it’s fun seeing the folks who do.

32. Is there a particular song, band or style of music you listen to when you work?

It depends on the stage of work. For thumbnails/layouts it’s just got to be music without words, typically movie soundtracks. The most recent ones have been the scores for Man of Steel, Tintin, whatever Michael Giacchino’s written lately. For pencils/inks it goes back and forth between podcasts and jazz. Miles
Davis, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Clifford Brown and Freddie Hubbard are all favorites. Though lately I’ve been listening to a lot of stand-up comedy while I work too.

33. Who is your favorite comic character?

Like most folks, narrowing it to just one is tricky, but I’ll stick with superheroes for the sake of keeping it simple. Though there are a number of very close seconds, it’ll probably always be the original Captain Marvel, the Big Red Cheese himself. I gave up any hope of ever working on something with him in it a while ago but Billy Batson and his world will likely always occupy a good chunk of my brain.